St. Petersburg Plans Pay Raises for Officials Despite Budget Cuts

St. Petersburg's city administration has approved a draft budget for 2027, along with spending plans for 2028 and 2029, that would raise base salaries for lawmakers, deputy governors and other officials by up to 5% each year. According to the RBC news website, the document was approved by the city government on Sept. 29 and submitted to the Legislative Assembly.

The Legislative Assembly speaker's monthly base salary would rise from about 149,100 rubles ($1,804) to 168,800 rubles ($2,042) by 2029. Deputy speakers and deputy governors would see base salaries reach 159,400 rubles ($1,929), while city government members would reach 154,700 rubles ($1,872). Officials' total pay is higher than these figures since it includes allowances, bonuses and other supplementary payments.

At the same time, the administration has proposed cutting the 2026 budget by 70.2 billion rubles ($849.4 million), from 1.651 trillion to about 1.58 trillion rubles. The largest cut, 36.7 billion rubles, would hit spending classified under the economy. Transport spending would fall by 9 billion rubles, including 10.8 billion rubles removed from construction of the Shirotnaya high-speed highway. Education spending would drop by 15.5 billion rubles, the health care committee's budget by 8.5 billion rubles, and housing and utilities spending by 6.8 billion rubles. Spending on public space improvements and road repairs would also be reduced.

Meanwhile, payments to Russian troops fighting in Ukraine and their families would increase by 6.4 billion rubles.

The city administration attributed the cuts to high borrowing costs, a planned cooling of the economy and efforts to reduce borrowing. The changes are expected to narrow the 2026 budget deficit by about 80 billion rubles, from 189 billion to 108.8 billion rubles. A deficit of 103.4 billion rubles is projected for 2027.